What should we call movies like this or Rogue One? Sprequels? Pre-sequels? I know some people hate that these movies serve no real purpose, except to make money for the Disney. They do not push the story further, they do not show us anything new about the Star Wars universe, they just tell a story that we already know. However, I actually really like these movies. Like Rogue One, this movie has a different feel from the rest of the movies. Yes, it is about some characters we already know (and we know that they will survive), but the movie managed to make things interesting.
Spoilers from here on out…you have been warned!
-Donald Glover was amazing as Lando. The first scene of him…damn, I really thought it was Billy Dee Williams. Every scene with him was great. The death of L3 was sad and Lando’s reaction was pretty heartbreaking.
-Alden Ehrenreich was great as Han Solo. He may not look exactly or sound precisely like Harrison Ford, but he pulls off that scoundrel with a heart of gold role pretty well. I think my favorite scene was probably his final Sabacc game with Lando, especially when he realizes that the smuggler was cheating before.
-Chewbacca! We finally got to see the Wookiee being a super badass. Hell, he finally rips some arms off. Also, was there a better moment when he helps Han fly the Millennium Falcon?
-I loved the idea of this movie being a heist film, I only wish the caper was a little more Ocean’s 11 and less Fast & the Furious Part 238. The double-cross from Beckett was fairly predictable (although, I thought for sure that Qi’ra would betray Han to Dryden, which would have been fairly disappointing). I figured that Qi’ra would give Han up, but then Dryden would murder her in front of Han, maybe pushing him further into the life of smuggling and making him come off even more heartless.
-Okay, it is time to talk about the big reveal in the movie. Darth Maul is back! If you watched Clone Wars & Rebels, then you already knew the Sith lord made a comeback. In the movie we see him as the leader of the criminal organization, Crimson Dawn. It also appears that he has been training Qi’ra, not sure if she has Force abilities, or if he was just training her in the fighting style he used. I think they mentioned that style in the movie without showing her take out a bunch of guards (those of cool people definitely caught the reference though). I actually suspected Maul as being the guy they kept mentioning as the person Dryden answers to who is very scary. Mostly because when Jason was telling me about the film, he said there was a pretty big reference and I jokingly said “what, does Darth Maul show up?” And Jason’s face was so shocked that I even guessed that, it definitely gave it away. He tried to play it off, but it did not help.
Here is my hope for the next few Star Wars standalone movies: they use Maul to tie them together. Perhaps in the Boba Fett movie, we see Maul hire Fett for a job, but perhaps that job brings the bounty hunter up against Han & Chewie (it would be cool if we saw them as the bad guys in that movie, right?). Then maybe we get a Lando film, this time he is trying to smuggle something for Maul or from him, and Lando needs the help of Han Solo. Instead of giving us multiple Han Solo movies, it would be cool to have him just feature in different character movies.
I think Disney made a mistake with how they marketed this movie and releasing it in May. I think it would have been better to continue with a Star Wars movie each year, instead of one so soon after TLJ. Also, they could have really pushed the whole heist aspect of the movie, could have hyped anything actually. I swear they only showed like two trailers and the last one was like a week before the movie came out.
Anyways, this movie definitely has me excited for a Boba Fett movie and really excited for an Obi-Wan Kenobi movie…seriously, please make that happen soon!
